Fahrenheit 451 Montag Humane Quotes

Although Beatty’s cruel, insidious personality makes him the quintessence of a villain, his hypocritical words and actions make him much more perplexing. Throughout the novel, Beatty proves to be a well-read person, although he adamantly opposes books. For example, when the old woman stays inside of her burning house just to be with her books, she shouts out “Play the man, Master Ridley!” (40), originally said by a man condemned to being burned at the stake for heresy in 1555. Beatty understood this quote to the extent that he knew who originally said it and even the date it was said, although he simply explained “I’m full of bits and pieces . . . most firemen have to be” (40). Later in the novel, Beatty uses his knowledge of literature to confuse Montag in attempts to dissuade him from books. Beatty perverts the original texts and quotes several literary works and authors to confuse Montag and at one point arrogantly states that he is “using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! You think they’re backing you up, and

There are many instances where Montag is brave instead of being a coward, and ignoring his problems. One of these instances is when Montag attempts to rescue the woman at 11 No Elm. In the book Montag says “Your just going to leave her there?” to Beatty who of course says yes. This was brave for Montag to speak up to Beatty because firemen are supposed to be in disgust over the people who hide books. In this way, Montag is different than his society.

In part two of the novel, Montag is in the process of transforming. A quote from the book

He walked on the tracks. And he was surprised to learn how certain he suddenly was of a single fact he could not prove. His mind turned to a strange noise he heard behind him. A loud gasping sound overwhelmed his ears and his body slowly turned around. Montag was shocked to see that Beatty was following him. With the flamethrower in hand, Montag walked cautiously towards the man who should be died. They stared at each other for what feels like years but seconds. Beatty falls to the ground with burn marks on a quarter of his body and begins to speak. “You are going the wrong way” Beatty says “You were supposed to turn left 25 yards back.” Montag look confused and asked “Where are you helping me?” “I believe in the same cause as you” said Beatty. Without asking another question, Montag walks to Beatty and reaches out his hand and walked 25 yards.

After ending the captain’s life by pointing a flamethrower at him, all Montag could do was “shut his eyes” and “[shout]” (Bradbury, 113). Such an act is momentous in Montag’s moral conflict, as he recognizes the abhorrent consequences of taking another’s life. He is forced to live with murdering someone he used to consider a friend, forever altering the course of his entire

Montag has finally escaped the town and escaped the hound and is walking down the railroad tracks. He has just met the ex-professors and is walking, observing the giant fire. Montag thinks to himself, “He hadn’t known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take” (171). Ray Bradbury uses the symbol of fire to help the reader understand that fire can have a positive and negative connotation. In some eyes, fire might be seen as destructive and violent. In other eyes, fire might be seen as purifying and helpful. Fire can create a balanced mixture of

Montag is now at the point where his views are being tested and new beliefs of life are being created. “Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief” (35). Here Montag sees a plethora of books inside of Mrs. Blake’s house and seemingly of its own accord Montag’s hand takes a book. He has now broken a rule that everyone in Montag’s society knows, never to take or read books. Mrs. Blakes, instead of coming with the firemen out of the house decides to burn with the books. This confuses Montag and piques his curiosity to figure out what inside the book could drive someone to die with

Towards the end of the passage, Montag threatens Beatty with a fire hose, prompting a lengthy dialogue from Beatty. Beatty responds to Montag’s threats with an allusion to Shakespeare, saying, “‘There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that they pass by me as an idle wind, which I respect not!’ How’s that?” Beatty’s ease and familiarity with Shakespeare confirm that Beatty has definitely read books, and that he is an intelligent man has some notion of what books have held deep within their pages. In this way, Beatty is similar to Montag, he is another book burner that is knowledgeable about literature. What separates the two is that Beatty is simply unable to diverge from societal norms, and his stubbornness takes over and refuses to admit the worth of books. This differs greatly from Montag, who is finally starting to rebel against society. In this same scene, Beatty also taunts Montag when the fire hose is pointed at him, urging Montag to, “Go ahead now, you second-hand litterateur, pull the trigger.” While this may have just been Beatty egging Montag on, later on Beatty’s lack of resistance seems to suggest that Beatty really didn’t care whether or not he died. Moments before his death, Beatty simply says, “‘Hand it over, Guy,” and then proceeds to smile as he knows he is about to be burnt. Through dialogue, Bradbury is able to reveal information about Beatty’s background and knowledge of books, as well as his

He noticed Montag tilt his head to the side, as if he was listening to someone else talk. Beatty swung his hand into the side of Montag’s face, the force of the hit causing them both to stumble backwards. A small green object flew out his ear, and Beatty gently picked it up of the ground and held it up to his ear. He smirked as Montag shouted in protest. A quick glance at Montag’s fingers revealed that he had unlocked the safety on the flamethrower.

When he is walking home, Montag chances upon Clarisse, who is taking a moonlight walk. She begins speaking to him, and he listens, though most others would “walk off and leave [her] talking...[because] no one has time anymore for anyone else” ( Bradbury 23). Montag took time out of his day to humor a girl who he did not know, though he could have gone home. It would have been much more convenient for him to ignore her, and taken less effort as well. It is evident that Clarisse has met many people who ignored her, considering her surprise and slight bemusement that Montag listened. Clarisse describes Montag as ‘peculiar’, and claims that he does not seem very much like a fireman. This indicates that firemen, who are leaders and representatives of society, would not stop to talk to someone else, preferring to rush home instead. Montag’s society, generally, cares much more for constant comfort, pleasure, and gratification than the effort of interacting with others. However, once Montag does put in the effort to hold a conversation with Clarisse, he quickly develops an intimate bond with her. This, to him, seems overwhelming and revolutionary because he has never has such a close connection with anyone before, not his wife, not his colleagues. He only spoke to her for a few minutes, “yet how large that time seemed...how immense a figure she was on the stage before him.” (11). It is natural that Montag feels like Clarisse is the biggest person in his life, because he has never had a mutual, intimate, relationship with anyone else. He cares about her so much that he becomes extremely upset when she later disappears and is presumably dead. Montag only knew Clarisse for a short period of time, yet she is arguably the

He was in fight or flight mode and wasn't thinking. Now he is starting to understand how the government is treating the citizens unfairly, and how he can’t think his own way. On page 49, it says, “And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I’d never even thought that thought before” (Bradburry 49). Montag couldn’t think for himself because the government told him what was right and wrong. Now he is thinking for himself and seeing how corrupt the government is. Later, Montag gets caught and finally has to be speak for himself. On page 112, it says, “We’ll take this and drop in on your friend.” “No!” said Montag” (Bradburry 112). Beatty catches Montag with the earpiece and is trying to make montag feel like he is the one at fault. Montag screams back and says “no”! He is thinking for himself and protecting his friend by concealing and not giving his name up. After Montag screams “no” at Beatty, the situation escalated very quickly. Page 113, writes, “Montag only said, “we never burned right….” “Hand it over, Guy,” said Beatty with a fixed smile. And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping sprawling gibbering manikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him” (Bradburry 113). Beatty is

For example on pages 102-104, Beatty uses many quotes to confuse Montag. Beatty quotes Samuel Johnson saying, “He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty” (Page 103). He doesn’t want Montag to question the Firemen, and or do anything rash. Beatty also quotes Shakespeare when he sees that Montag will kill him. On Page 113 he says, “There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that the pass by me as an idle wind,which I respect not!”. This quote is from Julius Caesar, in which Brutus is speaking to Cassius about threats. Beatty is so secure in his belief that the government should restrict books, that he would not be afraid to die for it. Montag sees this, and kills Beatty. The allusions to Shakespeare in the novel are important because many regard Shakespeare to be the greatest writer of all time, and it is fitting that their government would want to burn his

Beatty is essentially an anti-Clarisse. Beatty represents the unseen force that drags people into conformity, giving Montag a sugarcoated explanation of how books came to be banned. Throughout most of the book, Beatty is trying to undo the effect of Clarisse. However, all this does is lead Montag to antagonize Beatty, so Beatty confronts Montag about the books. After going home, Montag’s wife has friends come over and Montag gets frustrated and forces the women to read with him. The next day, Mildred’s (Montag’s wife) friends report Montag’s books to the firemen, which Beatty “let ride.”Later, Mildred reports it and Beatty decides to take action, realizing that re-corrupting Montag is futile. Beatty forces Montag to burn his own house down. After this, Montag burns Beatty alive with the flamethrower he used to burn the house, knocking the other two firemen unconscious

When Beatty comes to Montag’s house to tell him that books cause trouble, Montag becomes seemingly more curious about books. Beatty allows Montag to have a day with his hidden books. But Beatty ends up burning Montag’s house. As the house is crumbling down, Beatty quotes from books. My take on this is that Beatty doesn’t want Montag to see the truth in books so he decides to take matters into his own hands and burn his house so that Montag realizes that books cause nothing but trouble, just as Beatty tried to explain to Montag prior to this incident.

Beatty uses his knowledge to attack Montag after the fireman has made the decision to join the radicals and to oppose the burning of books. Montag returns to the fire station in order to surrender a book, creating the illusion of conforming to Beatty’s expectations. Before Montag has an opportunity to speak Beatty begins to confound him with contradictory statements from